Author Description

Product DescriptionJean-Louis Rocca's admirably conciseA Sociology of Modern China wears its scholarship lightly and paints an intimate and complex portrait of Chinese society, all the while avoiding clichés and simplifications. He delves into China's history and examines the country's many different socialstrata so as to better understand the enormous challenges and opportunities with which its people are confronted.After discussing the long march toward reform and the crises along the way - among them the 1989 protests which culminated in the events in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere - Rocca dedicates the second half of the book to the major questions facing the country (or, at the very least, its politicalelites) today: new forms of social stratification; the interaction between the market and the state; growing individualism; and the pressures exerted by social conflict and political change. In eschewing culturalist visions, Rocca thoroughly and successfully deconstructs received wisdom aboutChinese society to reveal a thriving nation and its people.Review"Take an already gifted French scholar, put him in a Chinese university, and let him teach and research. The result is not simply a comprehensive and sympathetic treatment of Chinese society, faults and all, from the inside but also a redefinition of Chinese sociology for the rest of the world.Jean-Louis Rocca has set the parameters of future research and teaching about the rapidly changing Chinese society." -- David S. G. Goodman, Professor of Social History at Nanjing University, and Head of China Studies at Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University"This is a very good book, perhaps even a classic. It is certainly the best textbook about contemporary China that I have read for a long time. Jean-Louis Rocca's many years of first-hand experience, in conjunction with a keen sociological eye, have allowed him to produce a sensible, original,insightful and accessible work." -- Dingxin Zhao, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago"With the publication ofA Sociology of Contemporary China, the Anglophone world gains comprehensive access to the insights of a leading French scholar of contemporary China. Brimming with sophisticated, self-reflexive analysis, this book should be the starting point for anyone trying to comprehendChina's recent past and future path." -- Karl Gerth, Hsiu Chair in Chinese Studies and Professor of History, University of California―San Diego (UCSD)About the AuthorJean-Louis Rocca is a sociologist, Professor and Researcher at CERI Sciences-Po in Paris and at Tsingshua University in Beijing.